by Tasha Black
His eyes were blue, like Nick’s.
He looked over at his new mother and yawned luxuriantly, as if his close call with death had been a day at the beach.
Raina smiled at him through her tears.
“Are you ready to see your mom?” Nick asked the boy.
Raina held out her arms and Nick handed Tesla to her gently.
“You’re amazing,” she told the baby. “We love you so much. We will never let you go.”
Despite the enhanced gravity, Nick felt as if a physical weight had been lifted from him.
“The gravity,” Raina said, looking up at him in alarm.
Or maybe that feeling wasn’t just relief after all.
The gravity on the ship must have gone back to normal.
Which could only mean one thing.
“Someone else is on this ship,” she whispered, echoing his own thoughts, terror in her eyes as she instinctively held the baby closer.
Suddenly he heard footsteps in the hallway, coming closer.
The DNA lock beeped, and the door swung open with a hiss.
Nick moved to shield his family. He didn’t know how much fight he had left in him, but he was willing to do whatever he could to keep them safe.
21
Raina
Raina stiffened as she heard footsteps in the hallway.
No. It wasn’t footsteps.
The sound approaching rung out in a familiar way, too loud and too fast to be human.
It sounded like… a horse.
Nick moved between Raina and the baby, protecting them from view of the doorway.
The door crashed open.
“Who are you?” a woman’s voice demanded.
“Anna?” Raina breathed.
“Leo,” Nick cried.
He leapt up, allowing Raina a view of who had joined them.
Anna sat atop an ethereally beautiful unicorn. Its long silky mane was white as snow and braided with flowers. Its golden horn sparkled in the light of the broken chandelier.
Anna herself gazed wide-eyed at Nick, who was still naked and climbing over the debris to reach her.
A lick of jealousy heated Raina for an instant, then she realized who he was running to.
Nick put both hands around the muzzle of the unicorn, which studied him with sparkling brown eyes.
And then it wasn’t a unicorn anymore.
Raina watched in wonder as Anna slid to her feet and the beast transformed into a naked man nearly as handsome as Nick.
Nick let go of his cheeks and slapped him hard on the back.
“Brother,” he said happily.
Anna laughed and wrapped her arms around the neck of the man she’d been riding a moment before. It was going to take some time to get used to seeing stuff like that.
“You could’ve warned me before you changed, Leo,” she said with a smile.
“Oh, so you only love me when I’m a unicorn,” he teased.
Raina was amazed to see Anna grab his hand and brush his shoulder with her lips before she climbed the pile of debris to reach Raina.
“Who’s that?” Raina asked raising an eyebrow.
“I might ask you the same,” Anna laughed.
Raina smiled. “I’m so glad to see you.”
Anna sat down beside her.
“He’s beautiful,” she whispered, gazing adoringly at Tesla.
“You’ll never believe where we found him,” Raina said, still wondering at the fact that he was now in her arms.
“Was he in a tiny stasis pod hidden somewhere on the ship?” Anna asked.
“How did you know?” Raina asked, stunned.
“When we get back to the Stargazer there’s someone else you need to meet,” Anna said, her eyes sparkling.
“Is Angel okay?” Raina asked.
Anna’s smile disappeared.
“Her ship was further into the web,” she said. “We’ll rescue her together.”
Raina nodded.
“Mates,” Leo called to them from across the rubble. “We must go. We have another brother and friend to rescue.”
Anna stood and brushed herself off, then helped Raina to her feet.
Nick came across the rubble to take her hand.
“Are you ready, my love?” he asked her.
She nodded.
“Come, darling,” Leo said to Anna, taking her hand as she crossed over the rubble too.
“We really need to get you guys some pants,” Anna said.
“That’s not what you said when—” Leo began.
“—OR you could shift again,” Anna interrupted.
Raina tried to hide her smile.
Leo shook his head and then closed his eyes.
A moment later the unicorn was back, its ghostly form looking incredibly out of place in the wrecked space ship.
“Wow,” Raina said appreciatively.
Anna hopped onto his back.
“Do you wish you had a horned horse too?” Nick asked.
Raina laughed.
But he closed his eyes and when he opened them again his aquamarine gaze belonged to a unicorn. He was black as night with a long silky mane and feathery fetlocks. His onyx horn glistened.
Raina stared at him, transfixed.
The beautiful creature stamped his hoof and tossed his mane, his nostrils wide. He was eager to move.
Anna held out her arms for Tesla.
Raina handed him up to her, amazed to feel bereft of his small weight even knowing she would hold him again in a moment.
She swung herself onto Nick’s broad back.
Anna handed the baby back to her. She cuddled him close with one arm while she grabbed onto Nick’s mane with her free hand.
Leo whickered and then leapt through the doorway back into the antechamber.
Nick followed.
When they reached the corridor the two unicorns began to run, the women on their backs holding on and laughing as they streaked past the ancient forest of the biodome and back toward the cargo bay and the Stargazer.
22
Nick
Nick leaned back against the pillow.
After the adventure he and Raina had just had, even this simple cot felt luxurious.
A few feet away in the tiny bathroom the motor for the tiny chemical shower turned off.
Raina was coming.
He shivered with anticipation.
Though they had been safe on the Stargazer within an hour of being found by Leo and Anna, there had been so much more to do.
First, he had been given clothing. Then he was thoroughly vetted by “Mama” the ferocious captain of the vessel. She interrogated him with such abandon that he was stunned when she suddenly slapped him on the back so hard that he nearly fell out of his chair.
“Yeah, you check out okay,” the tiny woman had said, winking at him.
At least, he assumed she was winking. She wore an eyepatch that made it hard to tell.
“Let’s eat,” she’d added, gesturing to the door.
He wasn’t going to argue with that. Especially when he saw Raina holding Tesla at a table in the Stargazer’s small mess hall.
Anna was next to her, holding a golden-haired baby.
“This is Tolstoy,” Raina said, indicating Anna’s baby.
“We’ll catch you up over a hot meal,” Anna said.
Then Leo had joined them with a tray of steaming mugs. The hideous brew that passed for a meal on the Stargazer was disgusting, yet nourishing. Even the babies didn’t seem to mind it.
And the conversation was fantastic.
As the four caught up, exchanging tales of the adventures aboard the abandoned cruisers, Mama navigated the ship around the whole web to the far side, where Angel and Peter were trapped on the third ship.
“It’s going to be about seven hours,” she told them before heading to the bridge. “Eat, catch up, but also sleep. You’re going to have a full day tomorrow.”
When their meal was done, Anna and Leo showed them to their cabin. It w
as small with a single cot, a tiny bathroom, and a makeshift crib in a nook for Tesla.
“Do you want us to keep him tonight, so you can have some alone time?” Anna asked Raina.
No.
“That’s really sweet of you, Anna, but we’ll be fine,” Raina said immediately.
Nick loved her for it. Loved her even more for the way she glanced up at him half-apologetically, like he might have felt differently.
He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder to reassure her and their connection shot through him all over again.
“Sleep well, brother.” Leo had winked at him over Anna’s shoulder.
“And you,” Nick said, not winking back.
Whatever happened tonight, even if all he and Raina did was hold the baby and each other, it would be special.
“I think I’ll take a quick shower,” he told Raina when the others left.
She grinned and nodded.
When he reached the little bathroom, he saw the reason for her smile.
He was absolutely covered in ceramic powder and grime.
A few minutes later he emerged to find his mate cradling Tesla, who held a fistful of her golden hair tight in his chubby fist.
“My turn,” she said, with an uncharacteristically shy smile.
He scooped up his sleepy son and Raina scurried off into the bathroom as the little one snuggled into his neck.
Nick lowered his nose to inhale the baby’s delicious scent.
He closed his eyes and a melody came to him, old as time, in his grandmother’s throaty contralto.
The next thing he knew he was singing to his boy. The words were in the forgotten language of his people, but their meaning was universal. He sang of joy and sorrow, of cold nights and happy mornings, of starlight and darkness.
Tesla’s warm weight relaxed completely after a few verses.
But Nick held him for a long time anyway, treasuring the quiet moment.
At last he lowered the tiny form into the crib.
Tesla whimpered, and Nick covered his little belly with a big hand.
Tesla’s lashes fluttered once and he stilled, his little mouth moving slightly in his sleep as if he were trying to remember his great-grandmother’s song.
And then Nick was alone with his thoughts.
He paced the room, trying not to think about the sounds of the shower running just a few feet away, running down the naked, glistening body of his beautiful mate.
Soon she would emerge, and he would ask her the question again, the one that had burned in his heart since the moment he’d sensed her in that control room back on the trapped cruiser.
And if she said yes, they would have only five hours to surrender themselves to the mating thrall.
If the baby stayed asleep…
23
Nick
Nick watched as Raina emerged from the bathroom, her long golden hair still damp, her cheeks pink.
She looked around for a moment, then visibly relaxed when she spotted Tesla sleeping in his crib in the nook.
Then her eyes went to Nick’s.
She had not bothered with clothing. The sight of her tantalizing naked form was not only painfully sexy, but frank in its confidence.
Nick felt like all the air had gone out of the room.
He launched himself from the bed, went to her, knelt at her feet.
“Raina,” he half moaned. “Will you accept me as your mate?”
“Yes,” she replied softly.
He wrapped his arms around her hips and buried his head in her belly, hoping that one day he would fill it with their second child, if such a thing were even possible.
She sighed and then he felt her hands in his hair, her fingers so gentle.
Then she was kneeling on the ground with him, her arms around his neck, her face tilted up to his.
He leaned down but held back for just a moment, trying to memorize the curve of her lips, the tears sparkling in her eyes.
“I love you,” he told her. “I will always protect you.”
“I know,” she told him. “I feel the same.”
He kissed her then, thrilling at the feel of her velvet mouth beneath his. He could sense her pulse quickening, scent her excitement.
Raina pressed herself closer to him, reminding him of the last time they’d been so close, in that bed back on the cruiser.
The bed here was so tiny. Too small for the ocean of ways he wanted to pleasure her. Too rickety for him to take her as passionately as they both craved.
He pulled back from the kiss.
Raina whimpered.
“Wait, darling,” he murmured, squeezing her hand.
He turned and snagged the blankets and pillows off the cot.
Raina watched as he spread them on the floor, her eyes alive with lust.
He gestured for her to come to him and she crawled over, her hair sweeping the blankets, breasts dancing.
“Lie down, my love,” he told her.
But it came out as more a plea than a command.
She slowly eased herself onto her back beneath him, her hair splayed on the pillow, obeying him in spite of the breathlessness of his demands.
His alpha side preened in his chest and he bent to kiss her again, caging her head between his arms.
Raina pressed her soft lips to his. The sweet pressure drove him wild. He kissed her until his lungs burned for breath, then pulled away. Raina blinked and smiled up at him, her lips swollen with his kisses.
The mating thrall surged in his chest and he saw stars before his eyes.
Raina gasped.
She felt it too, through the bond they shared.
The knowledge gave him pleasure even as he was racked with desire so raw it felt like pain.
He buried his face in her breasts, nibbling, then licking her nipples.
Raina arched her back and he lost control, licking and biting her breasts until he had to pull away.
“Nick,” she whispered, lost in the same sea of need that swelled to encompass him too.
He trailed wet kisses down her belly and nudged her thighs apart.
Her sex was pulsing, glistening, swollen with need. The scent of her alone made him wild.
Raina sucked in a breath.
Nick fell on her, lapping at her sweet juices, inhaling her delicate essence.
Raina cried out, her hands clenching the sheets.
His own body demanded satisfaction, but he held back, determined to build her desperation up to such a peak that he could not cause her pain with the enormity of his lust.
Raina moaned as he set a rhythm designed to push her past what she could bear. She wiggled her hips, lifting them as if to press her clitoris to his tongue.
“Please,” she begged. “Please, please, please.”
He gave her one last, loving lick and then pressed a kiss to her inner thigh.
24
Raina
Raina waited for Nick during the interminable seconds as he crawled up to her, his mouth glistening with her juices.
The idea didn’t embarrass her. She lifted her head to kiss him.
He devoured her mouth, his tongue invading hers with a rhythm that made her need his touch elsewhere. He tasted like springtime.
She lifted her hips to his, wordlessly begging for him to satiate the wild pangs of need that pierced her very soul. It seemed that she felt not only her own desire but Nick’s as well, each wave of longing inspiring a corresponding tsunami of lust until she couldn’t think.
“Are you ready?” he asked her.
The harmonics of his voice played on her nerves and she almost couldn’t understand his words.
“Please,” she murmured again. “Please, I need you.”
This appeared to satisfy him. His eyes went hazy with need.
“Be still,” he told her. “Let me love you.”
He took his cock in his hand and guided the head against her opening.
The sensation sent ripples of pleasure through her bo
dy and she wondered how she would bear it when he was inside her.
Nick’s jaw was set with concentration. His struggle for control was beautiful.
Raina willed her eyes to stay open, desperate to see him let go.
But when he pressed slowly inside the sensation was too much. She closed her eyes against it, holding him tightly as if she were afraid to explode or float away with the ecstasy of it.
Nick moaned as he filled her completely. He held still, though she could feel his biceps trembling with the effort not to move.
She lifted her hips again, urging him on.
He slowly withdrew from her and entered again.
Raina bit back a scream. Her pleasure was already bearing down on her like a freight train. She tilted her hips again, frantic.
“Raina,” he groaned, biting her shoulder as he thrust inside her again.
“Please,” she whined.
Nick finally let go.
Raina reeled under the sensations as he thrust into her again and again, filling her until she thought the bliss of it would blind her.
Her need became a weight that pulled her down. She moaned and tossed her head against the pillow, desperate for the spark that would send her over the edge.
Then Nick’s big hand was between them, his thumb drawing teasing circles on her clitoris.
“Oh,” Raina cried out. “Oh, Nick, oh…”
And then she was flying on the wings of a pleasure so intense it almost frightened her.
“Raina,” Nick’s voice sounded as if the word was wrenched out of him.
She felt him grow impossibly larger inside her.
Then he was flying with her, pulsing and jetting inside her and sending her into a second climax.
Their shared ecstasy went on and on.
At last he rolled onto his back, pulling her along with him so that she lay on his chest.
She knew they should get in bed and get some rest.
But he was so warm, his heart beat so steady, and the play of his hand in her hair so gentle that she decided to close her eyes, just for a minute.
25
